


sakusaku changed group name to << ‘obi’s ‘supposedly broken' heart’’ >>

by szzzes



Series: surgical masks are for losers and lovers [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, actually i dont know how alot of things work, also im up to no good as usual, also. group chats!!, hospital gossip mill, i am not a doctor nor am i training to be one, meaning kkob + rin suffering, so there will inaccuracies bc idk how hospitals actually work, they're all doctors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2018-10-28 08:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10827408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szzzes/pseuds/szzzes
Summary: ‘How are we, as fellows, supposed to respect our mentors when Dr. Uchiha from Paediatrics doesn’t eat his veggies, Dr. Nohara from Cardiology has a drinking problem and Dr. Hatake from Neurosurgery has… wait. What problem does Dr. Hatake have?'(Rin, in the distance, yelling drunkenly while hugging her bottle of red wine, ‘Dr. Hatake is an asshole, pass it on!’)AKA Non-serious Hospital AU: some doctors have issues such as meeting your ex after ten years, and not being mature enough to confront the problem. obito. we're talking about obito. and also rin, who suffers simply because she has obito's phone number on speed dial.





	1. everyone appears. rin suffers

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I'm not a medical student, nor am I working in any related industry. I'm not particularly good at researching things for my AU, as well. Please let me know if there's something wrong in this AU. 
> 
> you can come yell at me for my general lack of knowledge about the entire world at:
> 
> szzzes.tumblr.com
> 
> at the point when i started writing this fic i was inspired by the korean drama 'Doctors', but mostly just how they sassed each other. the only part where the drama was referenced was 'Neurosurgery', and 'Awake Surgery'. but even then i'm still not very sure about both.

 

_No one wants to say it out loud, 'if you want to gossip without getting caught by the doctors, you should always pretend to be searching through the file cabinets’._

_It can’t be helped, since it’s taking Management forever to install the online filing system._

 

.

 

Rin watches as Obito nibbles on his food, even though he should be absolutely famished after going through his rounds and entertaining the sick kids under his care.

 

But nope, he was still nibbling on his potatoes, and pushing his carrots to the side, clearly not intending to eat them.

 

"Aren't you going to eat that?" Rin asks, and Obito startles a little, because he's a pathetic loser and Rin is a saint to put up with him.

 

"Wha- Oh." 

 

"That's not an answer."

 

Obito shrugs, and just to prove how he's a little kid in a grown man's body, he nudges his carrots again, sending them rolling a little farther away. Rin has to hold back from hitting his head, only because she's wearing her coat and it'd look really bad if a doctor is smacking another doctor on the head.

 

Instead, she takes a deep breath, and tries again. She can do this. She's done numerous bypass surgeries and heart transplants and her college friend acting like a brat is nothing.

 

"You should set a good example for your kids, you know." She prods again, watching with sharp eyes as Obito freezes, stops nibbling his potato and looks at his carrots, then back at Rin, looking throughly torn. 

 

"But... I'm eating my tomatoes?" He offers lamely, even as his fork inches closer to his carrots in a resigned manner. Unbelievable.

 

Rin watches the slowly approaching fork, and the continued nibbling of food that's driving her mad, because she didn't clear out her schedule just so she could watch her friend become a nibbling rat.

 

"It's about Dr. Hatake, isn't it," she states, watches as Obito magically chokes on the carrot that he was nibbling on. She sets down her fork, and rests her elbows on the table, watching as what's left of the carrot quickly disappear into Obito's mouth, his face frowning comically.

 

Rin smirks, smug. “Unbelievable. You know you can’t avoid my question forever, right?”

 

Obito pales, and stops chewing.

 

Rin stares back. 

 

There's a loud sigh, and Obito groans, banging his head on the table, pushing away his half-eaten meal. "Nothing's wrong," he says, which no one believes, because if even Dr. Uchiha (the youngest one) and Head Nurse Konan had to approach her and ask her to, for lack of a better term, 'squeeze out the information from him', it would mean Obito was thinking about something majorly stupid again.

 

Rin didn’t even have to ‘squeeze' anything out. She already had an (now proven to be) accurate guess.

 

Dr. Hatake has only been at the hospital for a grand total of one day. 

 

Which is approximately how long it took foreveryone to figure out something was wrong with Dr. Uchiha (the crybaby one, the one that refused to eat his carrots even though he kept telling his patients to eat their veggies).

 

Obito let's out another wailing noise, whining pathetically against the table even as Rin sighs. "He's only been here for a day, Obito. Is it really such a big deal?"

 

“It’s one day too many,"Obito sulks. Rin rolls her eyes as she sips her strawberry milk, already knowing what kind of half-baked, desperate ideas were brewing in her friend's head.

 

“No, you can't avoid him for the rest of your career here. There's a general meeting next week, and it's mandatory for all departments."

 

Obito whines, even as Rin stands up and waves him goodbye. She has another bypass surgery in an hour, and she's done her job of pinpointing the exact reason as to what's causing Dr. Uchiha (the one wailing about horrible best friends that were also excellent cardiologists) to act strangely. 

 

.

 

Dr. Haruno greets her as she's walking to Building A, where the Cardiology Department is at. 

 

"Dr. Nohara! Is Obito alright?" She asks, green eyes a little worried even as Rin just shakes her head, amused smirk on her face. 

 

"Please, Sakura. Just call me Rin. And he's fine. He's just being a drama queen as usual." Rin says, sighing a little. 

 

Immediately, Sakura drops the worried frown, and her shoulders drop. "Oh." She says, utterly unimpressed and monotonous. "So, it's the usual?" 

 

' _I won't exactly say this is the ‘usual’_ ,' Rin thinks to herself, even as she nods.

 

Sakura groans, and Rin smirks at the young doctor whose in her first year of residency, and hence completely unused to Obito’s different brands of drama. "He's all yours now," she cheers her on, and waves her goodbye as she makes her way back to Building A.

 

.

 

Konan raises an eyebrow as she spots Obito back in his office after lunch. That was... fast. Like he came back straight to his office after lunch, instead of running of to the playground or some other department's office like the problem child he was.

 

"Dr. Uchiha," she calls out, and watches with amusement and worry as the man jumps, clinging on to the large bear plushie in his room like a lifeline. 

 

"Y-yes, Konan?" Obito stutters out. Konan clears her throat, and places a few folders in front of him. "We've got a girl, aged 6, that came in during lunch. Could you look over her as soon as possible?" 

 

Obito lets out a sigh, and slowly releases his grip on the plush. "R-right. Let's go."

 

Konan watches as he shrugs on his white coat, and catches Dr. Haruno waving at her. "I'll wait for you outside, then." 

 

"Ah. Yeah," Obito mumbles, engrossed in the file. Konan slips out, and immediately heads to where Dr. Haruno is pretending to search for files.

 

"Dr. Haruno." Konan greets, and they stand side-by-side, rifling through the file cabinet over and over again. 

 

"Konan." Dr. Haruno greets, taking out a file at random and pretending to flip through it, before Konan grabs it and places it back to it's rightful place. "How was lunch?" She asks, keeping an eye on Dr. Uchiha's office door.

 

Dr. Haruno huffs, finally giving up on rifling through the files and slams it shut, resting her hands on her hips. "I don't understand  _why_  we have to do this."

 

"It's more fun this way," Konan replies. "Did you see Dr. Nohara?"

 

Dr. Haruno nods, and tucks her hands in the pocket of her white coat. "Yeah. I caught her after she had lunch with Obito."

 

 Konan nods, but motions her to lower her voice. "What'd she say?" 

 

"What'd who say?" A third voice joins them, and Dr. Haruno freezes a little. Konan sighs, frowning a little at Obito's timely entrance.

 

"Just in time, Dr. Uchiha. Let's go." she says, ushering Obito away, giving Dr. Haruno a _look. See? This is why we need to do that ridiculous display, ‘searching' through files._

 

" 'It's nothing'. " Dr. Haruno says, in reply to her previous question. Obito turns around, confused but still grinning brightly. 

 

Konan nods, and her face frowns, all traces of worry gone. 

 

"Let's get going, Dr. Uchiha," 

 

"Wait! I forgot to take some of those candy!" 

 

"Those are for the _patients_ , Dr. Uchiha."

 

.

 

Little Mai-chan is feeling dizzy and sluggish when Obito enters the room she's resting in. He gives them a bright smile, introducing himself to the worried couple that he assumes are her parents. 

 

"I"m Dr. Uchiha Obito," he says, nodding at them once before directing his attention to Mai-chan, crouching down to her level. “Hey, Mai-chan, right? I'm Obito, but you can call me Obi. Is that okay?" 

 

Mai-chan nods, and Obito smiles. "That's great. I'm going to take your temperature now, okay?" Another nod, and Obito takes the thermometer from Konan's hands. 

 

"Alright-y." Obito hums, and shares a smile with the little girl. He’s great like this, able to connect with children from the first meeting. Even the timid ones aren’t afraid of him. Maybe they see a fellow comrade instead of an adult. 

 

The thermometer beeps, and he has to hold back a wince when he sees the numbers. “ Ouch. That’s a very high fever you have there," he mumbles, resting a hand on the feverish forehead, feeling it burn under his hands. “Hot!” he says after awhile, waving his hands and exaggeratedly blowing his hand. Mai-chan follows, and the two proceed to blow hot air on a ‘burnt’ hand for a while.

 

Kids.

 

Obito grins, declaring he’s ‘healed’, then turns to Mai's parents. "Other than a fever, has she been suffering from any other symptoms?" 

 

Mai's Mother nods, resting a cool hand on her daughter's forehead. She doesn’t go ‘ah! I’m burnt!’ like their resident doctor did earlier. 

 

"Ah, yes. She's been complaining about having headaches last night, but I thought it was due to her fever."

 

Obito nods, and asks Mai-chan to open her mouth. "Her throat is all sore. She's been like this since yesterday?"

 

They nod. 

 

Obito hums, and flashes a grin when Mai-chan looks up at him in curiosity. "Mai-chan. Are there any itchy, red spots on your body? Itchy itchy scratch?”

 

Mai nods once, and shows him the crook of his arm, where there are three small, red bumps. There are some on the inside of her wrist as well. It looks a little like an insect bite, and Obito looks closely, before blowing a little at it, getting a little squeal from the little girl. 

 

"It's a case of chicken pox. It's very common for children her age, so there isn't much to worry about," he informs her parents, and watches as they let out a sigh of relief. 

 

"It's highly contagious, though, so it would be good to keep her at home until it's completely healed." 

 

The two nod, and Obito takes the file from Konan. "For now, I'll prescribe some medicine for the fever and sore throat. I'll also give her one week's MC."

 

"Um. Actually, Mai-chan has a little brother at home, and we're abit worried since you said it's contagious." 

 

Obito stops, and hums, handing the prescription list to Konan for her to key in the data. "How old is he?"

 

"He's about ten months old." 

 

Obito hums again, "unless you can rearrange something, I would suggest Mai stay in the hospital." 

 

Her worried parents nod, a little relieved. "I'm sure she would be in good hands."

 

Mai-chan has other ideas. She hears about staying in the white building with the nice Mister Doctor for a week while Mama goes home to take care of baby brother, andwails. 

 

Obito groans internally even as he crouches down, praying that his knees will survive this because it's obvious that his ears _won't._

 

.

 

Obito is thoroughly exhausted when he enters his office again, shedding his white coat as he plops onto the comfy couch, lying on his side and curling up.

 

Sakura knocks on his door, and pops in. "She's asleep now, and her dad's going to stay the night here."

 

Obito let's out a groan that's muffled from beneath his pillows, raising an arm tiredly and waving Sakura away. 

 

Sakura frowns, worried, before thinking about Rin's words of Obito having a flair for drama. She stops herself and sighs. "I'll finish up the rest of the patients," she says instead, because drama queen or not, even _she_  heard Mai-chan screaming and bawling and she had to give him that.

 

"Mmfs." Obito thanks her, not even bothering to lift up his head. He's not even sure if she's gone or not, but three seconds after thanking her, he lets out a loud yell into his pillow, smothering himself before letting out another groan.

 

Sakura is done with her front row seat of her mentor's drama show and just rolls her eyes, slips out and closes the door behind her.

 

.

 

Konan approaches her when she's rifling through the cabinet, looking for an actual file. "Where's Obito?" 

 

Sakura shrugs, taking out the file and flipping it open, scanning through the contents. "Moping, maybe. I don't know. Has Yuuko-chan finished her antibiotics course?" 

 

The blue-haired nurse nods. "He'smoping? Like, curled on the couch, acting like a half-zombie, half-frustrated teenage girl? And yes, she's finished her course this morning.”

 

Sakura tucks the file underneath her arm, snagging a piece of candy from the counter on her way out. "Yeah, screaming into the pillow and everything." 

 

Konan rolls her eyes, and decides to take her break. 

 

.

 

Obito is half-dead when he stumbles into the cafeteria at eleven at night. He's has a new bruise at the base of his chin, because children at age nine are incredibly hard-headed in both the literal and figurative sense, and Rin carefully pries away the coffee in his hands, placing some chocolates instead.

 

She sips her newly acquired coffee, waiting in silence as Obito munches on the chocolates, frowning a little at the peanut crunch.

 

"Don't you like peanut crunch?"

 

Obito gives her a tired stare, motioning at himself - he's changed his shirt, and his coat is absent. “Nine year old boy. Peanut Allergy. _Vomit all over._ " 

 

Rin winces, and tries not to make it obvious as she shifts a little away from Obito. "Tell me you took a shower."

 

"I did." Obito says, a little more awake, and crunching on his chocolates a little more viciously. "Seriously, he's twelve, and he _knows_  he has a peanut allergy."

 

Rin pats his back consolingly, before going back to her coffee. 

 

"All because he wanted to eat peanut crunch!" Obito wails, wrappers dropping onto the floor as he buries his face in his hands. "He nearly killed himself!"

 

"Kids," Rin says, nodding like she's a veteran mother of twelve and not a single cardiologist that has a preference for twelve bottles of red wine in the span of two weeks instead. It's a default response to Obito crying over the troublesome children in his ward.

 

"Kids," he repeats after her brokenly, and digs into his pockets, taking out another bar of chocolate and munching on it.

 

"Are you going home tonight?" Rin finally asks, adjusting her bag as she throws away the empty styrofoam cup. 

 

Obito shakes his head. 

 

"Please remember to drink some water." Rin sighs, reminding him. He's ridiculously pig-headedand dedicated to his job, so this is one thing that Rin can't talk him out of.

 

Obito shrugs. "This is a hospital. I'm sure Konan or Sakura can find a IV bag or two for their doctor."

 

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should," Rin mutters, and it's ridiculous how _this_ is still their mantra after ten years. 

 

.

 

Sakura and Konan are standing in front of the file cabinet, searching through files as they talk to each other in hushed whispers, rolling their eyes every so often.

 

"Have you seen Dr. Hatake?" Sakura asks suddenly.

 

Konan looks at her curiously. "No. Who's that?"

 

"Who's what?" A voice asks from behind them, and the two of them jump, turning around to see Naruto's timely entrance. "You scared me." Sakura glares, and the blonde just grins. 

 

"Sorry. Who were you talking about?" Naruto asks again, even as Sakura and Konan turn back and continue to search through perfectly alphabetised files. 

 

"Get over here, dork!" Sakura hisses, making space for Naruto in front of the cabinet.

 

"Dr. Uzumaki. You have to at leastpretend you're looking for something." Konan chides, and Naruto doesn’t even look confused. He just does as he’s told, complete with a 'frustrated because it’s been _hours and I still can’t find the damn file, why hasn’t management implemented the online filing system yet_ ’ expression on his face. He was in the drama club.

 

"So who are you guys talking about?" Naruto asks, about to pull out a folder when both Konan and Sakura stop him from messing up the order. 

 

"Dr. Hatake." Sakura answers, fingers at the 'H' section. "He's the new professor, right?"

 

"Ohhh. You mean Kaka-sensei. He's my mentor." Naruto says, dropping the expression, grinning brightly as he plays with the files.

 

Sakura stops. "Right. I keep forgetting you're in the Neurology Department." She shakes her head, slapping a tan hand from pulling out another folder.

 

"Yeah. It's fun there too. Just the other day there was this huge awake surgery, and it was amazing. Kaka-sensei was the one who led the team."

 

"Awake surgery?"

 

"Yep. The patient's awake, and he prods certain parts of the brain to see what's wrong." Naruto explains briefly. "It was really cool."

 

Sakura winces. "Uhm. Too much information. Let's get back to the topic, please."

 

"Dr. Hatake?" Konan prompts, when she sees Naruto's confused look. "How's he like, as a person?"

 

"He's really cool. Apparently he's good friends with Dr. Nohara from Cardio." Naruto says, before pulling out his phone. "Ah. I need to go. See you guys around!"

 

"Dr. Nohara?" Sakura echoes, wheels turning in her head.

 

"What about Rin?" Obito asks, and Sakura jumps, before deflating. "Gosh! Stop sneaking up on people!"

 

"Uh. I need a file from the cabinet. You guys got what you need?" Obito points at the cabinet where the two of them have been standing in front of for about half an hour. _Goddamn management where is the online filing system????_

 

Konan nods, and slinks away, opening her phone to play Candy Crush. Sakura takes a random folder, breathing a sigh of relief when, luckily, it's one of her patients. "Yeap."

 

"Right. So what about Rin?"

 

"She's single, right?" Sakura asks, curiosity getting the better of her. 

 

Obito hums affirmative, looking through 'M'. 

 

"Is she dating anyone?"

 

Obito looks at her weirdly, but shrugs. "Not that I know of." He look's through 'O', and pulls out a file. "Gotcha."

 

Sakura watches as her mentor walks and read his file at the same time, and resists the urge to yell at him when he absently grabs on to a handful sweets when he passes the counter.

 

.

 

“Good morning, Oda-kun,” Obito greets cheerfully as he walks into the little boy’s room. His grin stretches when the boy perks up, looking much more energetic and healthy than he did days ago.

 

“Obi!” Oda-kun greets happily, sitting up in his bed. He giggles a little when his doctor reaches over to tousle his hair.

 

“Morning, sleepy-head. How are you feeling?”

 

“Better. Um, better-er? Can’t wait to go out and play again!” 

 

Obito nods as he listens to the little boy talk excitedly about wanting to go out and play and meet his friends, all while checking through the boy’s file, writing little remarks here and there.

 

Finally, the young boy exhausts himself, unable to think of anymore things he want to do once he’s out of the hospital (he has, Obito notes, conveniently left out wanting to go to school on Monday, and the doctor guesses must be because of what he overheard when the boy’s friends came to visit him - something about a spelling test?) and instead just sits there, sticking his tongue out, as though pondering what else he could possibly do.

 

Chuckling, the doctor closes the file, and digs into his pockets, about to give the boy some candy when he realises that he’s forgotten to wear his coat again.

 

Well. It’s alright. Obito digs into the pockets of his jeans instead, and is pleased to find that he still has some stash of candy there. 

 

“Alright.” Obito starts, and Oda sits straight, knowing the drill. “You can only pick _one_ ,” he says firmly, though still grinning as he opens his palm to reveal an assortment of chocolates, gummies, candy and even the occasional biscuit, that has been reduced to crumbs after a long residency in Obito’s jeans. 

 

He grins as Oda’s tiny hand slowly go forward, wavering left and right. There’s a look of pure concentration on his face, and he frowns his brow when he nears a marshmallow that Obito managed to nick from Ophthalmology when Dr. Uchiha (the one with really bad eyes despite being a literal ‘eye doctor’.) wasn’t looking (the irony never fails to crack him up).

 

This goes on for about five minutes, and Obito waits patiently, hands still spread open, watching with a grin as Oda nearly tears himself into two, trying to decide which was more worth it - marshmallow, or gummy bears.

 

Konan comes in to see Oda-kun frowning in utmost concentration, both hands hovering over the two candies and just sighs, exasperated and fond, shaking her head.

 

“Morning, Oda-kun. Dr. Uchiha,” she greets as she enters the room, and the two boys greet her half-heartedly, eyes never leaving the pile of treats in Obito’s hands. 

 

Obito nods, and the blue-haired nurse rolls her eyes as she opens the boy’s file, reading through the comments and mentally noting what she needed to do. 

 

Oda finally picks the marshmallow, but still not willing to pull back his hand yet.

 

“You sure?” Obito asks, and Oda bites his lips, obviously unsure. “You really, _really_ sure?"

 

Konan sighs, resting a hand on her hip as the young boy frowns again, before smacking at Obito’s back, where the boy can’t see. “Stop stressing him."

 

Oda looks relieved, and sends a grateful look to Konan, and she smiles back. “Are you feeling better, Oda-kun?” she asks, and Oda nods, holding his treat close to him.

 

Obito laughs, pocketing the remaining treats into his pocket, standing up to pat Oda’s head again. “Enjoy your treat, kiddo.” He winks, and the two fist bump as a goodbye.

 

“Thank you, Obi!” Oda calls out, and Obito nods politely in greeting when he sees Oda’s mother walking towards them.

 

“He’s doing great, and I think he can be discharged by tomorrow morning,” he informs her, and smiles when the mother is beyond relief. 

 

“Thank you, Dr. Uchiha.” 

 

“No problem."

 

Once out of earshot, Konan sighs, looking pointedly at Obito’s attire. “I’m not going to say anything about your choice of clothing, but can’t you at least wear your coat?"

 

Obito pouts, even as he tugs at his shirt. “What’s wrong with my hoodie? I’ll have you know I waited in line for three hours to get this!” 

 

Konan sighs, pointing to his office. “Please. Just take your coat.” 

 

The doctor pouts, slinking to his office as Sakura joins her. “What was _that_?” 

 

“ _That_ ,” Konan replies, “Is just one of the numerous hideous hoodies that Dr. Obito Uchiha owns. We don’t talk about them anymore.” 

 

Sakura gives her a look of understanding. "Ah. As much as we don’t talk about your addiction to Candy Crush?"

 

The nurse bristles. “I’m not addicted. It’s just a convenient way to pass time. Besides, I’m not the only one."

 

“What, do all the nurses play Candy Crush? You guys competing or something?"

 

“We just need to pass time, though I won’t deny that I’m the one holding the highest score at the moment,” Konan says, waving it off dismissively, and Sakura snorts.

 

.

 

After eight hours, Rin finally exits the operating theatre, pleased that the surgery was successful. She’s a little tired, and completely on auto-pilot mode as she takes out her gloves and washes her hands. 

 

“The surgery was successful,” she informs the concerned family members that had been outside the operating theatre the entire time. “It might take awhile until he makes a full recovery, but as of now, he’s out of the danger zone."

 

Once that’s done, Rin completely shuts down, walking to her office fuelled only by pure will-power. 

 

“Dr. Nohara?” Someone is calling her, and Rin is going to pretend that she didn’t hear it, because she was a human before she was a doctor and hence had the right to ignore people.

 

“Dr. Nohara.” Oh god, the person did not get the hint, still calling her. And was he _following_  her?

 

“Rin.” Okay. Hearing her name, Rin blinks, a little more awake, and turns around. She’s not really sure what she was expecting. 

 

She blinks again, taking in the man before her - he was standing a whole head and a half taller than her, with his pristine white coat and black tie tucked in the chest pocket.

 

“Oh my god.” Rin breathes out, and she’s not sure if it’s real or she’s hallucinating because, she does not have enough brain juice to deal with either one anyway.

 

“Rin.” He calls out again, and Rin is _two-hundred million billion trillion quadrillion percent sure_  that she is definitely not ready to take on this person in a conversation and hence is definitely going to make a conscious effort not do so.

 

“Okay. Nope, nope, go away.” She says, looking upwards even as she knows she’s being really dramatic and that meant she no longer had the right to roll her eyes at Obito’s drama-queen antics. 

 

The doctor in front of her chuckles even as Rin grins, knowing she’s lost the battle the moment he called her by her first name. She sighs, grinning as she takes a step forward into open arms.

 

“Hello to you too, Dr. Hatake,” she laughs into the hug, feeling warmth in her chest as Kakashi chuckles, deep rumbles in his chest.

 

Then she stops, and pushes him away. Kakashi looks at her, confused.

 

“Ok wait. We shouldn’t be hugging.” She says, and Kakashi frowns, confused.

 

“I didn’t know you cared about rumours, Dr. Nohara.” 

 

“Not that!” Rin rolls her eyes, even though now that Kakashi mentioned it, she hoped that no one saw them hugging and laughing. Instead, she motioned to herself. “I’m still in my scrubs! I just got out of an eight hour surgery! I really should not be hugging anyone right now!”

 

Kakashi took one look at her, and laughed, pulling her into another hug that was extremely uncharacteristic of the Kakashi ten years ago. “The blood has dried, its fine."

 

Rin lets herself be pulled along, and together they walk to her office, smiling and laughing and Rin is so, so happy, because finally it’s the three of them again - Rin, Kakashi and Obito -

 

Oh. 

 

Sometimes, Rin’s brain does the thing where it becomes mush, blended halfway to oblivion by an extremely gruelling surgery, leaving her weak and un-intelligent. Which would explain how she forgot about caring about appearances and hugging Kakashi and _Obito on his life-long mission to avoid Kakashi for life._

 

_The three of us together again, my foot._

 

.

 

Sakura has given up on jumping every time someone speaks over her shoulder when she’s searching through perfectly alphabetised and organised folders at the file cabinet. _Management and their empty promises._

 

“Yes, Sasuke, I know it sounds stupid. But get your ass over here anyway,” she glares, and Dr. Uchiha (youngest Uchiha, first year of residency in the Cardiology Department) sulks as he makes his way around the counter to stand beside her in front of the file cabinet.

 

“This is not even my department.” Sasuke mutters, but still pretends to search for files anyway when Sakura gives him another Look. “How have you not traumatised any kids yet, with that look?” He continues.

 

“Because kids are not losers and they think my pink hair is pretty.” Sakura replies without missing a beat.

 

“You’re such a fraud,” Sasuke says, though he does not mention anything about Sakura indirectly calling him a loser. 

 

Sakura raises an eyebrow. “What are you doing here, anyway?” 

 

“Dr. Nohara told me to come over to check on Dr. Uchiha."

 

“Sasuke. You _are_  Dr. Uchiha.” 

 

Sasuke shoots her an annoyed look. “Obviously, I meant the _other_  Dr. Uchiha."

 

“Itachi is operating in Theatre 3, Shisui has an off-day, and Obito is not here."

 

“How do you know where Itachi-nii and _Shit_ -sui are exactly, but not your own mentor?"

 

Sakura shrugs, and looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Obito runs off whenever he can. You see that net there? The only reason it’s there is because it does it's job, unlike Dr. Uchiha Obito."

 

Sasuke looks to see that, indeed, there is a net there, hung on a hook beside some coats and aprons and regularly maintained. “To capture Dr. Uchiha Obito?” 

 

“Yes. That’s its job."

 

Sasuke groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Should have known. We used to have a net like that at home, too."

 

Sakura blinks. “What. Are you serious?"

 

“Yes."

 

“I can’t believe he’s the best paediatrician our hospital can offer."

 

Sasuke looks at her like she’s an idiot. “Obviously its because he’s like a little kid?"

 

“Okay that makes sense. That also answers my question as to why I suddenly feel like a mother of twelve."

 

Sasuke decides he has enough of this conversation. “If Obito-nii is not here, I am leaving."

 

“Wait. What did Dr. Nohara want? I can help pass the message along, if it’s urgent."

 

“Dr. Nohara wants to cancel lunch with Obito. She has another appointment."

 

Sakura raises her eyebrow. “Alright. I’ll keep that in mind."

 

.

 

Konan wordlessly passes her a bottle of disinfectant and Sakura takes it without question, spraying it at Obito when he finally returns from wherever the hell he had been since he disappeared an hour ago.

 

He’s covered in mud stains, and there are three children with him.

 

“Dr. Uchiha!” Sakura gasps, horrified. She crouches down, both Konan and her quickly wipe of the mud on the children’s face. “They’re _patients_!"

 

“They had fun!” Obito defends himself, accepting a towel from another nurse and immediately cleaning up the last child. “And they’re pretty much fine."

 

“Obi, Obi! Can we go out again?” One of the boys ask. Immediately, the other two perk up, turning to Obito with puppy eyes on at full-force. 

 

“Pleeeeease?” They beg, looking up at Obito pleadingly, still sporting mud on their cheeks. 

 

Sakura and Konan share a look, fond and amused. “Alright, let’s get you guys cleaned up.” They usher them away to the toilets. Obito laughs even as Konan points at him. “And you too, Dr. Uchiha. Shower and clean up!” 

 

“Yes Ma’am!” He winks playfully at the children before going to his office.

 

Sakura watches her mentor go into his office, about to pass him Sasuke’s message when one of the children tugs on her coat. “Dr. Sakura?” 

 

“Hm? Yes, let’s clean you up, then afterwards, I’ll read you a story, okay?"

 

“Kayyyyy!” The children answer in unison, and allow themselves to be herded to the bathroom.

 

Konan gives Sakura a questioning glance, but the doctor just shrugs. “It’s nothing."

 

.

 

(Turns out, it’s not 'nothing', not that Sakura knows.)

 

Rin is halfway through her pasta, nodding at something Kakashi said when she spots Obito walking into the cafeteria, and the only reason she spotted him when he was so far away was because he was wearing his orange hoodie, even though he had been wearing a Doreamon hoodie this morning. (Sakura had sent her a picture of it, with a lot of question marks as to how he got it. It was kind of cute, to be honest, but Obito had been texting and bothering her the entire three hours while he was in line for that thing, so he wasn’t going to hear that from her.) 

 

Another thing that made her hyper aware of Obito: her current lunch partner.

 

“What’s wrong?” Kakashi asks, and Rin thanked all the gods that his back was facing the cafeteria entrance, because Rin was not mentally ready to see everything fall apart in such a close proximity. 

 

“No, nothing's wrong…” Rin mumbles, even as she caught Obito’s eye, and tried to tell him to _flee_  with only her eyes. Kakashi looked at her strangely. 

 

“You’re acting like there’s something wrong, though,” he muses.

 

“No, no…” Rin mumbles, more nervous than she had been in her first surgery. Not today, she was definitely _not_ going to be present when Obito and Kakashi looked at each other in the eye and dragged out ten years worth of… _whatever_  that had been going on between them.

 

“Just, saw a doctor wearing orange hoodie,” she laughs nervously. The hospital was big enough that it had its share of weird doctors, so there was bound to have one or two doctors with a love for orange hoodies, right? Besides, Kakashi has only been here for what, three days? He shouldn’t have heard any rumours about the ‘Dr Uchiha that liked outrageous hoodies’ yet, right?

 

Kakashi chuckles. “Oh. Must be Naruto. Comes in everyday wearing something orange."

 

Rin laughs in undisguised relief, taking another scoop of pasta while looking at the orange behind Kakashi’s head. “Sorry, it’s just, very distracting,” she lies, catching Obito’s eye and glares when the man is about to greet her.

 

She feels extremely guilty when he drops his hand, grin turning upside down, looking like a kicked puppy. Rin _feels_  like she’s kicked a puppy, and tries to convey the messages of _‘I’m sorry’_ and _‘Fuck off’_ through her eyes, at the same time.

 

Confusion shows on Obito’s face and Rin glances down at Kakashi, who’s scrolling through his phone, and back up again, at Obito, then at the door.

 

‘What?’ Obito mouths, even as he takes a step closer to the exit. Rin nods minutely, and looks at the person sitting opposite her again. 

 

‘Go away!’ She mouths, eyes going back and forth from Kakashi and Obito. 

 

“Rin?” Kakashi calls out, having caught on to her strange eye movement. “What are you doing?” He asks, slightly suspicious.

 

“Nothing.” Comes the immediate answer, and she stares back, poker faced as Kakashi looks at her closely. 

 

“You’re awfully distracted by something as trivial as an orange hoodie.”  _Please don’t turn around. Please don’t turn around._

 

“I’m not.” Rin replies, short and curt, even thought she’s having a minor breakdown inside. She gives Obito another glare, and watches with a mix of worry and amusement at the emotions on Obito’s face the moment he catches on - his face goes pale, mouth opening to let out a little distressed sound before quickly slamming a hand on his mouth, backing out slowly, disbelief in his eyes.

 

‘Oh my god,’ Obito finally mouths, eyes darting around crazily before dashing out, looking horrified and frightened all at once.

 

Rin finally relaxes. Well, as much as she can, anyway. She still has to be on guard, in case Kakashi brings up  _someone (Dr. Uchiha)_  into their conversation. Then she’d be able to immediately change the topic, minimising the harm done to her fragile mental state.

 

Kakashi finally turns around, but sees nothing. “Huh. Must have went out for ramen,” he mutters to himself, obviously thinking that it was Naruto she saw. Well. She could live with that.

 

“Maybe.” Rin mutters, and the two go back to their former topic of discussion until the end of their lunch break.

 

.

 

Sakura rolls her eyes when she walks by Obito’s office, hearing muffled screams coming from inside. It was obvious he was trying to suffocate himself with the pillow again, though this time it wasn’t just limited to screaming and groaning.

 

_“Oh my god! Oh my god Rin what the actual fuck?"_

 

Sakura raises and eyebrow at the curse word, and Konan huffs irritably, walking up to the office quickly even as Obito is obviously having some sort of mid-life crisis. At least he was considerate enough to have it during lunch time. 

 

_"Shit shit shit I am never leaving this office, fuck!"_

 

Konan knocks on the door, uncaring about the obvious breakdown Obito was having. “Dr. Uchiha.” she calls out in annoyance. 

 

_“Go away Konan. I was **this**  close to death just now, so I will now break down and die and never wake up."_

 

“Okay,” Konan answers readily, used to this sort of thing, "but please stop cursing. The children can hear you."

 

_“‘Kay. Sorry.”_ Comes the dejected reply. Konan nods even though she’s outside and walks away, apparently pleased with that answer. 

 

Ten minutes later, Sakura is done with her review of the patients in her care, and walks straight to the file cabinet.

 

“Do you know what happened? He said he was going for lunch with Dr. Nohara but came straight back as though as he had saw a ghost.” Konan asks as she opens the drawer, arranging some files and adding new records. 

 

“Maybe he got scolded by Rin?” Sakura wonders out loud, before blinking. “Wait. I forgot to pass on a message from Dr. Nohara. She cancelled lunch with him."

 

“So maybe he got scolded. It’s not the first time,” Konan sighs, finally done with the filing work. “Though it is strange that she would give such a last minute notice."

 

“What’s last minute?” Naruto asks, already standing beside Sakura and looking at them curiously. “And why’s Obito crying in his office?"

 

“It’s nothing to worry about, Dr. Uzumaki. Obito is always crying in his office.” Konan reassures him. 

 

Naruto shrugs. “Lunch, Sakura?” he asks instead. “I have some free time, and so does Sasuke."

 

Sakura hums a little, and nods. “At the cafeteria? I want to go do some snooping.” 

 

There’s a quiet groan, and Sakura turns around to see Sasuke waiting at the counter. “Again?” 

 

“Yes again. Obito’s crying in there over something and I want to know what."

 

“You aren’t actually concerned. You’re just curious."

 

“If you want to continue this conversation, you’ll have to be standing here, Uchiha.”

 

“This is ridiculous. Are we having lunch or not? I have to assist in a bypass surgery in two hours."

 

“Yes, let’s lunch, please.” Naruto nods, and leaves Sakura to join Sasuke behind the counter.

 

Konan takes out a Mai-chan’s file. “You should go for lunch. I want to know what happened too."

 

“Yes. Also, please prepare Mona-chan’s discharge papers."

 

.

 

Sakura grins happily as Naruto launches into a story about the Awake surgery that he still thinks is amazingly cool. It’s like listening to a little boy babble, except the boy is a neurosurgeon and is talking in terms that Sakura hardly hears off, even in the hospital. She turns to look at Sasuke, and sees that he’s half-listening, half-tuning him out as well.

 

“I honestly do not care.” Sasuke finally says, after listening for about twenty minutes, nodding at all the right places. 

 

“Can you stop being boring for once, Sasuke?” Naruto grumbles. “Is there nothing interesting in your life?"

 

Sakura and Naruto both glance at Sasuke, obviously wanting to hear about his experience. Naruto, because he’s bored and really wants to know more about Cardiology and Sakura because she does not want to listen about awake surgery anymore.

 

“I did an Artificial Heart Valve Surgery.”

 

Naruto ‘oohs’, and even Sakura is curious. 

 

“…"

 

“What? That’s it?” Sakura asks, incredulous, when Sasuke stops talking. 

 

Naruto ‘boos’ and Sakura rolls her eyes. “You’re horrible at story telling. Never come near my kids. You’ll suck the fun out of them.” She says, and Naruto laughs as Sasuke grumbles. 

 

After much bickering and talking, they enter the cafeteria, splitting to order their food and rejoining to sit at the same table.

 

“Wait. Isn’t that…” Sakura frowns as she sits down, Naruto naturally sliding away to make space. Sasuke takes the seat opposite them.

 

“Which one are you talking about?” Sasuke asks, looking at the same direction as Sakura.

 

“Uhm. Dr. Nohara? And the other guy?” Sakura mumbles, and Sasuke scans until he finds his mentor. “Ah yeah. That’s Dr. Nohara. The other guy…"

 

“Oh. That’s Kaka-sensei.” Naruto supplies helpfully, finally comfortable and looking at their mentors that were sitting a few tables away.

 

“That’s Dr. Hatake?” Sakura asks.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Sakura turns to Sasuke. “Did you know they were this close?” 

 

Sasuke looks at her, raising an eyebrow. “No.” Having lost interest, he turns back to his food, eating his rice quietly even as Naruto immediately talks about something or the other. 

 

“No but seriously. They look super close?” Sakura prods them again. “Do you think they’re dating?"

 

“What?” Naruto and Sasuke look at her. 

 

“Well, maybe.” Sasuke says, after thinking about it. “It’s possible."

 

“I always thought Dr. Nohara and Obito were gonna date or something.” Sakura mumbles.

 

“They’re just college friends, they don’t see each other that way." Sasuke states on behalf of his cousin.

 

Naruto finishes his noodles. “Want me to ask? Though I don’t think that they’re like that."

 

Sakura ponders as she munches on her meatball. “Maybe."

 

“Seriously? Are we seriously going with Naruto’s gut feeling on this?” Sasuke rolls his eyes. 

 

“Oh. Did you know someone saw them hugging outside the operating theatre? Rin was in scrubs.” Naruto says again.

 

“Didn’t you just say they weren’t like that?” Sakura asks.

 

“Seriously, we should just leave it alone,” Sasuke advises.

 

“No.” Sakura shoots back.

 

“Do you just want me to go ask?” Naruto offers again, standing up. 

 

“You can’t just ask, idiot.” Sasuke says. Sakura agrees.

 

“But you want to know, right?”

 

Sakura and Sasuke groan at Naruto’s logic. “It’s a sensitive topic.” Sakura tries.

 

Naruto still walks away, anyway.

 

When he comes back, he has another tray of noodles with him. 

 

“Please tell me you didn’t ask.” Sakura mumbles.

 

Naruto looks at them in confusion. “No. I went to buy a bowl of noodles."

 

Sasuke looks like he wants to smack something but he just pinches the bridge of his nose. “Can’t we just stop talking about this?” 

 

Sakura rolls her eyes. Sasuke was being more dramatic than she remembered. Was it an Uchiha thing?

 

.

 

Kakashi and Rin finally stand up to return their trays, still laughing about their conversation. 

 

“I’m honestly still curious as to why there are nurses at the file cabinet all the time.” Kakashi mumbles, and Rin shrugs. “We have the same thing going on at Cardio, too."

 

“I guess when management installs the online filing system, things will get easier for them,” Kakashi shrugs.

 

Rin doesn’t reply, paling when she sees who was at the 'Tray Return Station'. 

 

“Oh. Naruto. Thought you went out for Ramen?” Kakashi asks, a little confused. Thankfully he doesn’t notice how Naruto is not wearing an orange hoodie.

 

Naruto just grins. “Nah, I went to find my friends. These are my college friends, Sakura and Sasuke.” 

 

Kakashi turns to Sasuke. “Ah. Rin’s mentee. I’m surprised you went into Cardio. I’ve heard that most Uchiha’s either go to Ophthalmology or General Surgery.” He, thankfully, does not mention the Uchiha That Broke His Heart, Back In College. Sasuke nods politely, and Kakashi directs his gaze to Sakura.

 

Sakura smiles sweetly as she introduces herself. “I’m Haruno Sakura, from the Paediatrics Department. I’m Dr. Uch-"

 

“ _Sakura!_ ” Rin suddenly speaks, raising her voice over Sakura’s. It comes out as a terrified squeak. “I um, need to speak with you. It’s urgent!"

 

Sakura blinks, confused. “Yes?"

 

“Privately.” Rin tacks on hastily. “Sorry, Kakashi. We’ll catch up another time?” 

 

Kakashi looks at her weirdly, then back at Sakura, not sure what’s going on, and Rin’s heart goes into overdrive, beating wildly.

 

Thanfully, Sasuke, her cute little mentee, steps in, dragging Naruto along with him. “Let’s just go,” he says, and gives Sakura a look. 

 

Rin looks on in envy as the three of them seem to converse with each other naturally, with just gestures and gazes, and Sakura nods. “Right, you said you wanted to speak to me, Dr. Nohara?"

 

Kakashi waves as he watches them leave, and smiles in amusement when Naruto frees himself and says his goodbyes. “I forgot I have a meeting after lunch!” He yells, running back to his mentor. 

 

“What was that about?” Kakashi asked.

 

Naruto shrugs, opening a sweet and popping into his mouth. “We were just wondering if the two of you were dating.” He offers some of the same sweet to Kakashi. “Want some?"

 

Kakashi freezes for a while, before shaking his head. “We’re not dating.” He says, picking up a sweet even as his gut churns uncomfortably at the mention of 'Rin' and ‘dating’.

 

“Yet?” Naruto asks, blue eyes looking at his mentor carefully. Kakashi schools his expression so that it’s his default ‘polite poker face’, careful not to reveal too much to his surprisingly sharp mentee. 

 

“No 'yet'. We’re just friends.” Deciding to change the topic, he motions to the sweet wrapper in his hands. “Where’d you get this? Tastes pretty good."

 

“Got it from Paediatrics. They have all sorts of candy there."

 

Kakashi raises an eyebrow. “Is that where you keep going during breaks? To get candy?”

 

“Nah. The little kids there are always hyped to play with me, and Sakura and the head nurse are pretty chill. Also, the head is always crying in his office. It’s pretty fun."

 

.

 

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i said that the hospital was big and that there were a lot of staff, but as it is in my fic only a select few will be written about.
> 
> i also never had chicken pox + any other diseases so i apologize for the shitty diagnosis
> 
> children are also difficult to deal with and even harder to write about


	2. i may be looking too much into things but that was considered a kiss right? right??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because being a doctor is a respected profession doesn’t necessarily mean that the people who do these jobs are respectable people; see Fig 1.1 (A photo of Rin and Obito, the former drinking straight from the bottle and the latter crying while eating carrots)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *leaves this here and goes off procrastinating on c.3* 
> 
> Ok but to be honest i've actually edited abit of this like a year after I've written the original, so alot of it might not flow very well... and I took out some dialogue bits that I liked too T ^ T
> 
> Sorry and thank you for ur patience!

Rin sighs when they’re out of the cafeteria building, hand on her wildly beating chest. “As a cardiologist, the rate of my heartbeat right now is ridiculous,” she mumbles to herself.

“I’m sure.” Sasuke says dryly, and Sakura just shrugs.

Rin glares back. Ah, back to regularly scheduled brilliant-yet-asshole Dr. Uchiha.

“What is this about, Dr. Nohara?” Sakura finally asks.

“It’s nothing,” Rin waves her dismissively, and Sakura gapes. “Sorry."

“Is this about you and Dr. Hatake dating? Was that a date?” Sakura asks suddenly, and the question makes Rin laugh out loud, despite her nerves.

“We’re not dating.” she finally says, after near-hysterical laughter, still heaving and giggling and the silliness of that thought. She stops when Sasuke gives her a pointed look that Sakura doesn’t miss. “Please never say that again,” she quickly adds, nervous.

“She means to say never mention 'dating' and 'Dr. Hatake' in the same sentence,” Sasuke clarifies, though he isn’t exactly sure about the specifics of the reason. He had been pretty young when The Breakup happened and uprooted his everyday 5-year old life. “I’m guessing it has something to do with Dr. Uchiha?"

Sakura and Rin looks at Sasuke. “You _are_ Dr. Uchiha.” Sakura says tiredly.

“Sasuke, please just call the doctors by their names. As someone who’s friends with most of the Dr. Uchihas in the hospital, it's getting very confusing for me,” Rin says for what seems like the thousandth time.

He clears his throat. “Obito-nii,” he clarifies.

“Yes, thank you, that’s much better,” Sakura nods. “But why Obito?"

Rin starts laughing again, nervously, and grabs on to Sasuke. “We are not having this conversation.” she says, panic seeping into her voice. “I am not mentally prepared for this."

Obviously knowing what she’s talking about, Sasuke sighs, letting his poor mentor hold on to his arm. “If you can’t even do this with Sakura, how are you going to live through the shit-show that will inevitably happen?"

Rin sniffs, standing up straight, mustering all her dignity. “I won’t.”

Sakura finally takes pity on her. “Will you at least tell me some other time?"

“Of course.” Rin promises. “Not if you don’t figure it out by yourself first. Trust me, it’s so obvious and dumb that it’s painful."

.

Sakura taps her finger against the counter.

“Sorry.” Konan says, not at all sorry. She’s still looking at her phone, and Sakura sighs.

“Do you still have a lot of lives left?”

Konan doesn’t reply. One glance at her current Candy-Crush game answers Sakura’s question.

The door to the office finally opens, and Obito walks out, hood over his head and looking extremely sleepy.

“Did you cry yourself to sleep?” Sakura asks, taking a candy from the counter and giving it Obito. “Cheer up."

“I haven’t eaten lunch yet,” he answers, and Sakura takes back the candy “Lunch first.” she says, stern.

Obito freezes. “Tell me Rin is not at the cafeteria anymore. Or anywhere near it."

Sakura raises an eyebrow. “No. It’s nearly empty now."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Obito visibly brightens. “Okay. Time for lunch!” he says, back to normal. He manages to take the candy from Sakura’s hands, popping it into his mouth even before he leaves the ward.

“Make sure you eat your veggies,” Sakura reminds him.

“And wash your hands,” Konan pipes up, before going back to her game.

“Wait, do you have your wallet with you?” Obito shrugs, and turns around the corner, out of sight.

Sakura sighs, putting her hands into her pockets as she goes back to her dormitory. She'd take a nap first before talking to Konan again.

.

“Just salad, please.” Obito orders sulkily, placing some crumpled notes on the counter. His hood’s up and his body is hunched up, looking ridiculously like a sulking child.

“Obito-nii?” A voice calls out from behind, and Obito yelps even though he is a grown man in a public place and should not be so easily startled seeing that he was attracting a lot of attention.

“Y-you’ve got the wrong person,” Obito stutters out lamely, and the person behind him sighs.

“You’re wearing your Charizard hoodie, with the hood up even.”

Obito sighs, turning around to face one of his (many) younger cousins that had the unfortunate fate to work in the same hospital as their crybaby older cousin.

“Itachi,” he nods.

The young ophthalmologist stares at him in concern. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing?” Obito squeaks out, though it sounds more like a question than an answer.

Itachi raises an eyebrow. “One. You’re really bad at lying, and two, you’re wearing your hood up. You only do that when you’re really distressed or cold.”

“It’s cold.”

“It’s thirty degrees outside. We’re indoors and my hair is tied up."

Grabbing onto his salad, Obito winced as Itachi continued to level him with a heavy stare, the same stare that the family elders were very fond of giving him. (Especially when he said he was going to quit the neurology course and go into paediatrics.)

To his dismay, Itachi follows him after he orders his food, sitting right in front of Obito as he sets his Gyoza down. He watches, unimpressed, as Obito play around with his carrots.

“Did you wash your hands?”

Obito makes a strangled noise, drops his fork and goes to wash his hands.

When he comes back, Itachi goes straight to the point. “So, what’s wrong? And please don’t lie to me, Obito-nii, if not I’ll tell Grand-Uncle Madara."

The two young Uchihas shudder at the mention of Grand-Uncle Madara (who, not only is the patriarch of the Uchiha family, also has a doctorate in Psychology and forty years of practice of psycho-analysing people and therefore should be feared.)

“Well…” Obito mumbles, playing with his food, pointedly watching his carrots roll around instead of at Itachi’s face.

Itachi, unlike Rin, doesn’t care for the thing called ‘easing him into the conversation’. He doesn’t even wait for Obito to nibble on his food.

“It’s about that Dr. Hatake, isn’t it.” Itachi hadn’t been any older than Sasuke when The Breakup happened, but he was a lot smarter, and was also Obito’s go-to when he felt the need to rant about ‘that Hatake’ guy.

Obito drops his fork, and buries his face in his hands. “Can we please. Just not talk about this? Like, ever?"

“Fine. Change of topic. Why did you buy salad? You hate vegetables."

Obito sniffles, and drop his hands. “I could only find five dollars in my hoodie."

Itachi raises an eyebrow, looking pointedly at the pockets that were bursting at the seams.

“They’re candy. For my patients.” Obito explains, patting his treasures proudly. Itachi is so done.

“Why is it always candy with you?” The younger one sighs. Without waiting for an answer, he pushes his plate of Gyoza forward, having to suppress the urge to smirk when Obito lights up.

“If I give you half of the Gyozas on my plate, will you tell me what is it about Dr. Hatake that is bothering you?” Itachi asks, even though at this point of time he’s already figured out what’s going on, if Sasuke’s few and in-between texts about Rin's uncharacteristic nervousness were any indication.

Obito is throughly torn. “I want to but…” he completely pales at ‘Dr. Hatake’. “Why is everyone so insistent about this ‘Dr. Hatake’? Like who is he? I’ve never heard of him before!” Obito rambles, voice going a little higher at the end, clearly trying and failing to convince himself.

“I will also not tell Konan that you have not been eating your greens.” Itachi offers, unable to stop smirking when Obito finally caves.

“What’s there to tell, you already know everything. You weren’t exactly sleeping when I was telling you bedtime stories.” Obito sulks like the big baby he is, even as he munches on his newly acquired Gyoza.

Itachi shrugs. It’s true, seeing that Obito had been living with them since he was ten, and the younger had seen the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly.

_(Instead of falling asleep to normal bedtime stories like any other child his age, Itachi’s childhood mainly consisted of The Breakup, an epic 30-part series put together by the one and only Obito Uchiha. It mainly consisted of monologuing and insulting ’that Hatake guy’, with the occasional burst of tears and emotional breakdowns.)_

“Just be honest.”

Obito gives him a very flat stare, which is accurately translated as a sarcastic, ‘I never knew you had a Phd in Psychology’ look. “You’re torturing me."

“You’re eating my Gyoza, and not your salad."

“That guy’s my terrible, horrible, no-good ex-boyfriend. An ex-boyfriend that appears out of nowhere and goes about working in _my_ hospital like he has every right to _breathe the same air as me. Who the fuck even does that? Like a normal person?_ He broke my heart without even so much of a ’sorry’, that asshole. You know how it was, it took me a year to get over him. And now he’s back, probably to ruin my life again like the asshole he is. Are you happy now?” Obito rants, before stuffing the remaining portion of his Gyoza into his mouth, munching aggressively.

Itachi wisely does’t mention that it wasn’t just ‘a year to get over him’, seeing how, a decade later and Obito was obviously still not over it. He can’t even remember what exactly was the reason for The Breakup, and he doubts Obito remembers as well.

_(The Breakup, while a 30 part bedtime series, was also a Taboo at Uchiha Clan reunions only because Grand-Uncle Madara lived to torture his own family members, and so many, so many cousins had been sacrificed to distract the head of the family if only to let Obito live (cry) another day. Not that Obito knew any of this, he just wanted to pretend it never happened. Which worked pretty well for the past ten years. Now…)_

“And I’m planning to avoid him for the rest of my life.” Obito says with a note of finality, swallowing the last Gyoza. Itachi noted that there were a few flaws in his cousin’s plan, such as Obito running about and treating the hospital like it was his playground and the large, very probable chance where Dr. Hatake might just decide to take action and approach him instead.

But Itachi just keeps his mouth shut.

“Now. This is the end of it, we will never mention this ever again, okay? Definitely not in front of Aunt Mikoto and Grand-Uncle Madara."

“Of course.”

Itachi wonders just how long the combined efforts of the Uchiha Cousins group chat can keep Grand Uncle-Madara and his mother distracted from the newly updated Konoha Hospital personnel files.

.

The rest of the day goes by without a hitch (or a mumbled mention of 'Dr. Hata-whoever') and Obito takes immense pleasure from the looks of envy the boys give him over his Charizard hoodie.

He even manages to go home early, and Rin even messages him an apology about what happened during lunch, even though she didn’t really need to.

.

Because curiosity eats at her and she can no longer stand not knowing the full story (because she’s already figured out that Obito and Dr. Hatake have some kind of history, at least), Sakura sighs as she walks up to where Konan is checking something on the computer.

“Do you have Dr. Nohara’s phone number?” She asks.

Konan raises an eyebrow. “Sakura. It’s seven in the morning. I don’t think Dr. Nohara is in her office yet."

Sakura fixes her a glare. She’s been up since five and has not have any coffee yet, and her hair is a mess. Such is the life of a first-year residency fellow.

(Also, she ran out of moisturiser and had to threaten Sasuke to get some for her, because he’s the only one who knows what product (cherry-blossom Shea butter lotion) she’s using. She feels a little bad but then she doesn't.)

“Alright.” Konan sighs, pulling out her phone and quickly sending a text to Sakura’s phone. “What is it for, may I ask?"

Still focused on fiddling with her phone, “a group chat,” she states, pocketing her phone as she tries to flatten her hair. “I’m going to get breakfast. Want anything?"

A notification pops up on her phone, and Konan shakes her head as she looks at the words on her screen. “A group chat? Is this the one?"

“Yes."

It’s titled ‘ _Obi’s 4324392 issues iswtg_ ’ and Konan approves, setting a crying Obito photo as the group profile picture. Sakura replies with a thumbs up emoji.

.

Rin sighs, still a little worried as she walks into her office in the morning. Shaking her head, she heads to her office, dumping bag onto her table.

“Morning, Dr. Nohara.” Sasuke pauses in front of her open door, having seen her walk into the office. “I’ll get you your coffee and files right now,” he continues, pocketing a plastic bag into his pocket.

“No, no, it’s fine. What’s that?” Rin waves him off, not up for any caffeine. She points at the plastic bag again, putting on her coat and hospital ID and grabbing some of the files on her table.

Sasuke, having caught his breath, gives her a blank stare. “It’s Sakura’s moisturiser.”

“Really? That’s nice of you,” Rin mumbles, nodding before making her way past him, obviously having lost interest. She pulls out her phone, blinking when she notices a notification on her FireChat app.

“A new group chat? Who’s number is this?”

“Ah. That’s Sakura’s number.” Sasuke notes, surprising Rin because she always thought he was a heartless bastard and couldn't care about his friends' names, let alone memorise their phone numbers.

Sasuke nods towards her slightly, unaware of Rin's revised impression of him, before quickly making his way to paediatrics, because Sakura was going to _kill_ him if he took any longer.

Turning back to her phone, Rin has to stop herself from laughing out loud when she sees the group title and photo, but there is a small smile on her face. Sakura’s a genius, and now Rin can keep better tabs on Obito. She wonders how she didn’t think of this before.

 

 

> _Rin: Morning!_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Good morning, Rin! Will you tell me about this Dr. Hatake business now?_
> 
> _Konan: Good morning. I’m interested about this whole Dr. Hatake issue as well._
> 
>  

Vaguely, Rin realises that this is now essentially a group chat for gossiping about Obito (and by extension, Kakashi) behind his back. Well. It could be worse. Rin could revive their old college chat by sending screenshots of Obito’s private messages to her after they broke up.

‘Not today,’ Rin decides, pocketing her phone. She’d answer their questions about Kakashi later, since there was no running away, and besides it’d be nice to have some sensible women on her side when she cries into her wineglass thanks to Obito. But there were patients to tend to, and Sasuke was too busy delivering facial care to be her emotional crutch when delivering bad news.

.

 

> _Unsaved number: On a scale of 1 to 10, how ‘over’ are you with Kakashi?_

Obito blinks, confused at the message before paling and freezing up. Who was this? Why was this person messaging him about Kakashi? Was this Kakashi? OH SHIT, how did he get his number? _HOW DID HE GET PAST BEING BLOCKED??_

“Obi-sensei?” One of the children called out to him, a little worried as their doctor suddenly froze up, looking a little scared. “Are you okay?"

“Hm? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, we’ll have to cut the story short today. I have something to do.” Obito rushed out, standing up and giving the kids some candy as an apology. “Sorry, kiddos."

“Eh?” The kids pouted, upset even as they took their candy. “But Obi…"

“Tomorrow, okay? I’ll tell you more tomorrow. So you have to keep the map carefully, okay? It’s our little secret!"

Misaki blinked, before grabbing on to Obito’s coat. “Will you at least tell us what the treasure will do?” She asked shyly. Obito grinned, squatting down, waiting as the children huddled around him.

“It’s a secret treasure that will make people happy!” He whispered, grin widening as the children ooh-ed and aah-ed, excitement obvious in their eyes. They all shared a little smile, giggling at the thought of finding the treasure, before the moment was broken when the door opened and Dr. Sakura was there, hands on her hip as she sighed fondly at the sight in front of her.

“Okay children. Time for your nap! Not you, Dr. Uchiha. You still have some work to do."

“Eh?” Now it was Obito’s turn to pout, even as Dr. Sakura strode forward to grab his elbow, gently steering him out of the ward. “Let the children rest."

“Fine,” Obito pouted, before blowing a kiss to the kids. “Rest well, kiddos!”

The door closed with a click, and after making sure that the doctors were out of the way, Misaki sat up again, hugging on to her teddy bear. “Hey, Yuta?” She called out, and the three other children sat up as well, too excited to sleep.

“What is it?” Yuta, the eldest, asked. He easily slid out of his bed, managing to drag his IV stand over without much difficulty.

“Don’t you think Obito-sensei looked a bit upset just now?”

The other two children, Miki and Chika, nodded in agreement as they too slid out of their bed, helping Misaki out of the bed. “What if we found the treasure and gave it to Obito-sensei instead? I want him to be happy.”

Yuta hummed, thinking about it as the three younger patients waited for his reply. “But…” he frowned.

“Why not? You have the map, don’t you, Yuta?” Miki asked, enthusiastic.

“What if we get lost?” Yuta asked, still a little worried.

Chika huffed, tilting his head to the side. “But if we follow the map, we won’t get lost. That’s what the map is for, right?"

Yuta blinked, before nodding, walking to his bed to pull out the poorly-drawn treasure map that Obito had drawn for them from under his pillow. “Alright! We’re going to find the treasure and give it to Obito-sensei, so that he can be happy again!”

The four children giggled among themselves, nodding as they peered over the map, getting ready for their big adventure.

.

Obito sighed as he pulled out his phone again, still at a complete lost at the message from the unknown number.

“I feel like I’m in a drama.” He whined to himself, even as Sakura rolled her eyes. “No but seriously, an unsaved number, asking about something from years ago? Seems like a recurring theme in my dramas, if you ask me."

Sakura huffed, leaning over to take a look at the number. “Oh. That’s just Naruto’s number,” she mumbled, before shaking her head and walking off, ignoring the way Obito gaped at her.

“Naruto? As in Uzumaki Naruto from Neurosurgery?” He asked, completely dumbfounded.

“Yeah. As in Naruto who’s my college friend.”

“Oh. But why would he be messaging me about… Kakashi?”

Sakura shrugged. “Maybe… his mentor asked him to message you?"

Obito frowned. “His… mentor?"

Sakura had to resist the urge to slam her head into the nearest wall at the clueless look that Obito was sending her. “Yes. From neurosurgery. Dr. Hatake."

The effect was immediate. Obito paled, and turned around, walking towards his office. “Okay bye."

“Can you please stop avoiding the conversation whenever Neurosurgery or Dr. Hatake is brought up?” Sakura groaned, “you can’t avoid it forever and you are making all of us very uncomfortable!"

“I can and I will!” Obito called out, very much like a stubborn child before slamming the doors to his office.

Sakura groaned, hanging her head. “What’s the point of wheedling all the information out from Sasuke and Rin when he doesn’t even want to face reality?"

.

Chika poked his head out of their ward, checking left and right. They were pretty lucky that their ward was in the corner, closest to the exit and furthest away from the nurses table.

“Alright, coast is clear, captain!” Chika reported, saluting as he turned around to face Yuta.

Yuta nodded, face grim as he saluted back. “Alright, soldiers. Lets go and retrieve the legendary treasure to make Obito-sensei happy again!"

Slowly, one by one, the four of them filed out of their room, dragging Yuta’s and Miki’s IV stands with them as the made their way to the exit. Misaki held the map in one hand, and her teddy bear in the other, frowning as she turned it upside down, trying to find the right way up.

“Where to, navigator?” Yuta asked, once they were out of the ward and in the common room, waiting for the lift.

Misaki frowned, still trying to figure out the map. “Well. He drew a straight line. So I guess we go straight?” She offered, unable to deduce anything else from their map.

“Alright. Straight ahead!” Yuta nodded, and they each grabbed on to one hand, walking in a single file as Yuta led them, dragging his IV drip along.

“This feels kinda fun. Like we’re in a game or something!” Miki commented from the back, one hand holding on to Misaki’s hand while the other dragging her IV stand.

Chika nodded. “Like an RPG game! I wanna be the archer!"

“I’m the hero, of course!” Yuta said proudly, gripping onto his IV stand. “Look, the IV pole is my sword!"

“Then, I’m the mage! My IV pole is my wand!” Miki quickly added.

Misaki hummed for a bit, before looking at her teddy. “Then… then I am the um… sum-mer?"

“Summoner!” Chika corrected her, though nodding in agreement. “Great! We have our party! The strongest party!"

“Wait, then what is Obito-sensei?” Miki wondered.

Still walking, the four of them kept quiet, thinking what role they should assign their doctor.

“Well… In RPG games, we do quests to save the princess, right?” Chika mumbled.

“Oh! So Obito-sensei is the princess!” Yuta blurted out, “which makes sense, since we are finding the treasure to make him happy!"

“So… not Obito-sensei, but Obito-hime?"

“Princess! Princess!” Misaki chanted, obviously onboard with the idea. “Princess Obito, prettiest of them all!” She giggled.

The four children continued walking, now out of the paediatric department and entering the General Surgery department, all the while chanting about princesses and gallant heroes.

.

 

> _Saku✿Saku✿: On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it that Obito meets Dr. Hatake?_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: 1 being unimportant and 10 being extremely important, of course._
> 
> _Konan: Twenty_
> 
> _Rin: -1000000_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Let me rephrase my question. How important it is that they meet, and Rin is nowhere near their presence in terms of physical location and time and date?*_
> 
> _Rin: 2000000 They meet and get over their awkward phase and let me live without having to worry the two of them ever meeting in my presence ever again._
> 
> _Konan: As lovely as that sounds, Rin, I think you may be forgetting the general meeting that is going to take place next week with all departments._
> 
> _Rin: Isn’t Obito going to fake his death on that day or something, to avoid going for that meeting? I mean, wasn’t that why he messaged me about which was more believable at his age - common cold or heart attack?_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Neither._
> 
> _Konan: He’s going to the meeting even if it kills him._
> 
> _Rin: Oh, so he’s not going to fake his death? Then can you tell him I’ll be stealing his idea and faking my death? Thanks._
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Rin!!_
> 
> _Rin: What if I just. Very conveniently had a cold on that day. Can’t be helped, right? Besides, I’m pretty sure Obito is not planning to go at all._
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Unless I’m the one with the cold, you can be sure that I’ll make him go to that meeting_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Naruto has also confirmed with me that Dr. Hatake will be going for the meeting, like the mature and responsible adult that he is._
> 
> _Rin: Fuck. No you don’t understand, you weren’t there when the fall-out happened!!!_
> 
> _Konan: Yes but we're here when Obito panicked at the mention of ‘Hatake’._
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: He has been avoiding building D for WEEKS_
> 
> _Konan: Building D which has his favourite cotton candy. Rin. They’re his favourite and he hasn’t been there in WEEKS._

.

They obviously did not think this through, seeing as they were struggling to keep hold onto their candy as their pockets were stuffed to the brim.

“Where to next, navigator?”

Misaki blinked, before trying to get the map - and dropping some candies in her hands.

“Uhm… we’ve been through three stops… next is the big black building!"

“The what?” Chika asked, confused, from where he was picking up the remaining candy.

“There’s a big black building in the hospital?” Miki asked, peering over to check the map.

Yuta paused, before taking the map, causing more candy to drop on the floor. “No. This means… it’s the final boss!” He announced grimly.

The three gasped. “The final boss?"

“So we have to defeat the final boss to rescue the princess!”

“But… which building is that?”

“Hm… we’ve been to all the buildings except for building D, right?”

“Where’s that?"

At this point of time there were a few candies scattered on the floor, and they were lucky enough that a passing nurse saw them, and ran up to them.

“What are you children doing here?” She asked, a little worried. She looked at their clothes, recognising them as patients. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting in the ward?"

The four children shuffled about on their feet, hiding their finds behind them. “We’re just out treasure hunting,” Yuta explained.

“Yeah, we want to find the treasure and make the princess happy again!”

“Princess?” The nurse asked, confused even as she checked their IV drips and picked up the candy, though a little amused.

“Yes! The treasure is said to make anyone happy, so we want to make the princess happy!"

“Who’s the lucky princess, then?” The nurse asked.

The four looked at each other, obviously unsure, but deciding to answer the question anyway. In a quiet voice, Chika answered, “… Obito -sensei."

“Princess Obito!” Misaki corrected in a quiet whisper that didn’t escape the nurse.

Hiding a grin behind her hand, the nurse blinked. “Dr. Uchiha?"

“Princess Obito!” Misaki corrected stubbornly.

“Ah, yes sorry. Princess Obito.” The nurse nodded. “Well, I’m sure your princess will be worried if you weren’t in your beds. Why don’t we go back to your wards now, hm? You can continue the treasure hunting another day."

The four children looked at each other, a little upset, before Chika and Miki blinked, and shared a mischievous grin.

“Alright,” Chika answered, pouting slightly and acting a little disheartened. “But before that, can we ask you a question?"

“Hm? Sure.” The nurse nodded, and Chika took the map from Misaki, stepping closer to the nurse and pointing at the map.

Meanwhile, Miki quickly pulled Misaki and Yuta closer, whispering in their ears. After a few seconds, the three broke apart, sharing little grins.

“Do you know where this black building is?” Chika asked, pointing at the drawing. “It’s the evil boss’ hideout."

“Hm… its… building D?” The nurse frowned, leaning closer to the paper, obviously unable to discern anything from the ‘map’, but able to recognise the doodle at the side as a some monster. A cotton-candy monster, maybe?

Chika nodded. “Yeah, we’re so close to finding the treasure. But we don’t know how to get to building D."

“Let’s see… you walk straight down here, and then turn left at the glass doors. That’ll take you to the sky-bridge to the Neurology department, which is Building D.” The nurse answered. “But that’s for another day, alright? You have to rest if you want to get well soon."

Chika took the map back, and gratefully accepted the bag that the nurse had put all their candy in. “Thank you, nice nurse!"

Then without warning, the four of them hurriedly dashed down the hallway towards Building D. “We’re sorry but we’re really close to finding the treasure!” Chika called out, before turning left and out of sight.

.

Safely out of sight and at one end of the sky bridge, the four children heaved, trying to catch their breath.

“That was really scary,” Chika wheezed, still grabbing on to the bag of candies and map.

Misaki and Yuta nodded, too breathless to answer.

“She must have been one of the final boss’ minions!” Miki answered.

Having caught their breath, the four stood straight, looking on to the empty sky-bridge in front of them. “Beyond here, is the final boss’ lair!”

“Let’s go and save the princess!”

Then they took their first step towards building D, where the evil boss was.

.

Obito woke up with a start, the short, impatient rapping on his door snapping him awake.

“Obito? It’s an emergency!” Sakura called from behind the door, obviously distraught and desperate. “It’s about the children in Ward 10!"

Quickly putting on his coat, Obito ran to the door, wrenching it open and expecting the worst. “What’s wrong? Did Misaki get a rebound? Yuta showing allergic reactions to his drip? Miki having side effects to her new drip? Chika vomiting?” He gushed out, stethoscope around his neck, listing out the million and one things that could have happened to the four children in Ward 10.

Sakura hurried behind him, nearly having to run to catch up with his wide strides as he stopped by the counter to get their files.

“No, it’s not that…” she huffed, running a hand through her hair and stopping just in time before she crashed into Obito’s back. “They’re not in their beds!"

Obito frowned, going to the ward and opening the door, eyes scanning the empty room. “When did you find out that they were missing?”

Sakura frowned. “About ten minutes ago, when I went in to check their drips."

Not even replying her, the senior paediatrician walked up to where Konan was sitting. “Have you checked with the other departments?”

The blue-haired nurse shook her head. “I’m checking now. But the CCTV records for our department shows that they left their rooms about two hours ago, heading towards building C."

“Building C?” Sakura and Obito echoed, before stopping.

“Oh no. Oh no…” Obito groaned, holding his head in his hands as he groaned. “Please don’t tell me they actually went to search for the stupid treasure!"

“Treasure? You mean the one you were telling them about?” Sakura asked.

“Yes! I even drew a map and everything!"

“What?” Sakura gaped. “A map? And you left them to explore on their own with your shitty map?”

Obito looked offended, but before he could reply Konan hung up on her phone. “One of the nurses in X-ray saw them head towards building D."

“Fuck. Sakura go-"

“I’m not going. They were following your shitty map, you go get them."

“I’ll let Neurosurgery know that you’re heading there.”

.

Yuta blinked at the tall man that towered over them, tightening his grip on his IV stand as he pushed it in front of them like a shield.

“Another minion!” Chika called out from behind Yuta.

Kakashi blinked as he stared at the children, one of which was holding on to a bag of candy. “Halloween?” He asked. When he received no answer, he crouched down, mindful of the IV stand.

“Hey, you have to be careful with your stand.” He muttered. “What are you kids doing here? Collecting candy?"

“I-it’s not candy! It’s a treasure that will make the princess happy!”

“Princess?” Kakashi echoed, tilting his head in confusion. “You guys are patients from paediatrics, right?"

“P-paediaric?” Chika stumbled over the words. “Uh…"

“Hm…” Kakashi hummed. “Oh. Do you know Dr. Haruno?"

“Dr. Haruno? Who’s that?”

“Dr. Sakura?” Kakashi tried again.

“Oh! Sakura-sensei!” Yuta nodded in agreement. The other three were still not so convinced.

“Who’s that, Yuta?"

“The sensei with the pretty pink hair!"

Three more ‘oh…’s echoed after him, and they nodded.

“So if you know pink-hair sensei, then you must be a good guy?” Misaki asked hesitantly, gripping on to her bear tightly. Kakashi blinked. “Hm, yeah, I guess so."

“Then can you help us? We want to find the treasure and give it to the princess!"

Kakashi glanced at his watch. Yeah, he had some free time. Why not? “Sure. Where to then?"

Chika showed the crumpled map to Kakashi, pointing at the ominous looking black rectangle at the corner, with squiggly lines that were supposed to be bats and a big red ‘x’ at the end. “Here."

“Hm… ‘X’ marks the spot, eh?” Kakashi muttered. “So that’s where the treasure is?”

The four children, not extremely sure what he was saying but since it sounded smart anyway, nodded in agreement.

“Still… for an ‘x’, its drawn rather big… more like a ‘do not enter’ sign…” Kakashi sighed. “Alright, then let’s go."

“You’ll go with us to fight the final boss?” Miki asked, wide-eyed and in awe. Beside her Chika was doing the same expression. “Amazing! You’re so brave!”

Kakashi grinned. “Well. You guys are braver, having made it all the way here."

Noticing how Misaki was stumbling after them, Kakashi picked up the youngest girl. “Well, let’s go, shall we?"

“Yeah!"

It took no time at all to find Naruto. (Who was the only person Kakashi had in mind that would be willing to play along with the kids.)

“So, tell me more about the treasure?” Kakashi prompted as they walked towards the offices.

“Well... It’s a treasure that would make someone happy?” Miki answered, though sounding a bit unsure herself.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Who told you that?"

“The princess, of course.” The four of them chorused, even Misaki, who was yawning widely.

“But you’re going to give the princess the treasure instead of keeping it for yourself?” Kakashi didn’t understand kids.

“Yeah, because he’s always playing with us, but has been really sad these days.”

“So we wanna cheer him up!"

“Him…? Wait, isn’t the princess Dr. Sakura?” Kakashi asked, confused.

“No!” Misaki shook her head. “It’s Princess Obito!”

“Yeah, Princess Obito!” the three repeated.

Kakashi stopped, looking at the children that were grabbing on to his coat. “Wait, the treasure is for…"

The four children looked at him like he was idiot, before letting out a shriek and hiding behind Kakashi as Naruto exited from the residency dorms, looking half asleep and zombie-fied.

“The last boss!” Chika and Yuta yelled out, and Misaki turned around, burying her face in Kakashi’s shoulder.

“Wha?” Naruto slurred, prying his eyes open and taking a step back before he could crash into his mentor and the four cowering children clinging on to him.

“Ah. Dr. Last Boss.” Kakashi greeted him dryly, amused. “We’re here to get your treasure.”

“Treasure?” Naruto asked, confused. “What?"

“Last boss!” Chika called out, the slightly braver one. “Can you please give us your treasure?"

“Please and thank you!” Yuta cried out, bowing to Naruto as well.

Naruto blinked, before grinning, getting into the act. He squatted down in front of the two boys, his white coat looking more like a cape.

“Hmmmm. And why should I give you my treasure?"

“B-becasue it will make our princess happy!” Miki answered. “We want to make our princess happy!"

Naruto pretended to think over it, before frowning slightly and sticking out his tongue at them. “I don’t wanna. If you want it, you have to defeat me first!” He proclaimed, raising both of his arms in a grand gesture and letting out a cackling laugh. Yuta and Chika quickly took a step back, hiding behind Kakashi again.

Kakashi took a step forward, before delivering a light chop to his mentee’s head. “Super chop!"

“Ahhhhh!” Naruto cried out dramatically, gripping his head as he fell onto his side, “so strong!”

Kakashi crouched down, letting Misaki stand on the floor gently. “Listen, I’ll teach you two super moves, okay? But you mustn’t tell anyone that I was the one who taught it to you.”

The four turned towards him eagerly, nodding. Glad that he had their attention, Kakashi raised a finger.

“Firstly, it’s the ‘super chop’. It’s super technique that will make the last boss weak."

Yuta raised his hand. “What’s a tech-teknick?"

“Hm… like a move? A magic spell? But you have to do it lightly, or else it won’t work.” He continued, watching as the four nodded. “Good? When all four of your chop the last boss together, he will be defeated.”

Immediately after hearing that, the four hesitantly approached the still-groaning Last Boss, carefully side stepping the coat before giving a light chop on Naruto’s arm.

“Ahhhhh! You guys… are… too… strong!” Naruto gasped, before laying limp on the floor. “You win! You can have my treasure!”

The four of them cheered, before running back to Kakashi. “We did it! We did it!"

“That’s great!” Kakashi nodded, patting them on their head.

“Wait, what’s the second super move you wanted to teach us?” Miki asked, suddenly remembering about it.

Kakashi blinked, before smiling softly. “This one is super secret. You have to promise you’ll do it successfully. And you definitely can’t tell anyone who taught you this secret move."

“We promise.” The four of them nodded solemnly, making a motion across their heart.

“It’s not to defeat opponents, but to help cheer up the princess.” Kakashi continued. “It’s very simple.” Then he proceeded to whisper into their ears.

“Okay?"

“Okay.” The four children nodded, giggling.

Naruto sat up from where he was on the floor, and bringing over four cotton candies from the reception area. “Here, your treasure.” He grinned.

Misaki glanced at the treat in her hands, eyes gleaming. “It’s like a cloud! I’m sure the princess will be happy after eating it!"

Kakashi smiled softly. “Yeah, I’m sure he will. It's his favourite, after all.”

The four children smiled happily, looking at their treasure. “Well, with the super move and this treasure, Princess Obito will definitely feel better, right?”

Kakashi smiled at the children just as his phone vibrated. “Ah… Naruto, could you help bring the children back to Paediatrics?”

Naruto just looked at him carefully. “Sure, I guess,” he replied after a beat.

Kakashi patted him on the shoulder. His mentee was really a little too perceptive sometimes.

“Yuta? Chika? Misaki! Miki! Oh my god!” A voice called out from behind them, out of breath and desperate and dizzyingly familiar. Kakashi froze, before giving a little awkward wave and quickly walking round the corner, sighing heavily once he was sure he was out of sight even as he had to physically stop himself from taking a peek.

Naruto snorted at the uncharacteristic sight of his mentor, phone in his hand.

“Princess Obito!” They giggled loudly, all but climbing over the man even as he turned his worried gazes over them, checking if they had any injuries and pointedly ignoring the calm stare on his face.

“What princess? Do you know how worried we were?” Obito babbled, hands wandering between checking for injuries and petting them on their head and readjusting the IV drips.

“But you’re the princess, Obito!” Miki giggled, and Obito sighed, smiling fondly. “Oh, really?"

“Yes! Prettiest princess!” Misaki continued, clinging on to Obito’s neck. “A magic spell for the princess!” She called out, before smooching Obito on the cheek.

“Oh yeah! The magic spell!” Chika blinked, having remembered the ‘secret move’ that their new friend just taught them. He climbed over Obito’s back, nearly hanging over the man’s shoulder and giving Obito a kiss on the cheek. “Hehe,” he giggled.

“My turn!” Miki smooched Obito’s cheek, and Yuta quickly followed, blushing a little.

“Wait, what…” Obito blinked, stuttering and face red as his four patients giggled about a magic spell for the princess.

“It’s a secret spell we learned!"

“From who?” Obito whispered, a little nervous even as he tried to go for an easy smile. He glanced around, as though as he was sure Kakashi would suddenly pop out of nowhere.

The four children looked at each other. “Um, a wizard?"

“But he knew a spell to make the princess happy?"

“A prince, then?"

“A wizard prince!” They concluded, nodding. Misaki turned to Obito. “The wizard prince taught us!”

Confident that Kakashi wasn’t going to appear anytime soon, Obtio relaxed, still confused. “Wizard prince?” He turned to Naruto.

“Ah. I was the big bad boss. Your prince was _someone_ else.” Naruto grinned. 

Obito blinked, and cursed himself as his face flushed a little against his will. “Right. Whatever…”

“Did it work?” Naruto continued, unable to help himself. Obito shot a glare at him, but looked down at the four grinning faces.

“Well? Are you happy? Did we make you happy?” Yuta asked, grinning widely.

Obito didn’t have it in himself to break their hearts. He swallowed, and nodded. “Yeah, of course! It made me super happy,” Obito said.

“Hehe,” Misaki giggled, planting another kiss on Obito’s cheek. “Thank you for always playing with us, Obito,” she mumbled, before falling asleep.

Obito just nodded numbly, cheeks slightly flushing.

“Well, Dr. Obito, I’ll leave the kids to you.” Naruto said, grinning. He waved to the kids, before going back to his phone.

.

 

> _Nardo: Dude on a scale of 1 to 10, the BOTH of them are not over each other. at all. it’s like a fucking infinity here_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: What what what omg whats going on???_
> 
> _Nardo: Also kaka sensei is super smooth????_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: Pls tell me I cannot stand the suspense. I knew something good would happen if I forced them to meet_
> 
> _Sauce: Rin is still refusing to leave her office how is any of this good_
> 
> _Nando: They didn’t actually meet… Kaka sensei had an meeting (v unfortunate I know)_
> 
> _Nardo: BUT Kaka sensei basically used Obito’s kids to give him a kiss????_
> 
> _Sauce: That makes no sense_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: HOW??? What???_
> 
> _Nardo: No like, he said he was going to teach them a magic spell, ‘to make the princess happy’ and just straight up told them to go kiss his cheek. and now obi can’t say he didn’t like it bc who wants to break children’s hearts????_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: OMGGGGGG thats damn smart_
> 
> _Sauce: Rin is screaming, and I can’t tell if this is a good scream or a bad one. Sakura what did you tell her_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: I essentially told her that Kakashi kissed Obi on the cheek?_
> 
> _Sauce: That’s nowhere near what happened Sakura pLEase_
> 
> _Nardo: Do I get bonus points if I tell you Obi is blushing?_
> 
> _Saku✿Saku✿: If you get a photo I will treat you to ramen_
> 
> _Nardo: Deal_
> 
> _Sauce: I cannot believe you two and Rin won’t stop screaming why is this my life_

.

As expected, once they had managed to settle the four ‘adventurers’, Obito immediately locked himself in his office, letting out a huge muffled scream that lasted a few seconds long.

Konan was impressed, and somehow managed to record the whole thing (spanning forty seconds long), and sending it to the group chat.

 

> _Konan: I think it’s a new record._
> 
> _Konan: Attached: Recording_099_
> 
> _Rin: Close enough. I have one that’s 1:31 long, I think I still have it on my laptop. I send it to HR whenever they complain about something stupid._

 

Sakura rolled her eyes, before knocking on the door. “Dr. Uchiha?"

There was another muffled groan, and the door opened to reveal a hooded Obito, pulled down all the way until it covered his eyes. Sakura rested her hands on her hips, face stern.

“Your coat?"

“Right,” Obito replied weakly, turning back without much of a fight. Sakura frowned, now a little worried at the lack of usual boisterous energy that her mentor usually possessed.

“What do you think happened between Dr. Hatake and Obito? They barely even met and he’s acting like it’s the end of the world.” Sakura asked, whispering to Konan as she leaned over the counter, watching from the corner of her eyes as Obito stumbled into the trashcan, wincing at the loud crash.

Not looking up from her computer screen, Konan shrugged. “Who knows? But think about it, ex-lovers meeting again, and Dr. Hatake initiating a kiss the moment they almost-meet."

Sakura hummed, before turning around, getting ready to do her rounds and check on her patients. “True, not everyone kisses their ex the first chance they get…”

“They didn’t meet, remember? They almost-met.”

“Jesus, this is turning out exactly like my Korean dramas. Ten episodes later and they’ll be heavily making out against the wall, I swear.”

“Well hopefully it's not anywhere near our department, there are kids here after all."

.

Rin blinked as Obito entered her office just as she was preparing to go home, crashing face first into the couch. She stood there, one arm in her coat and just stared.

“Seriously?” She groaned, shrugging off her coat and all but dumping herself onto her chair. “And?"

Obito turned to lie on his side, facing her. “I think… I might have almost met him?"

Well. Rin was going to pretend that it was the first time she was listening to that piece of information. “Oh?” she managed, opening her eyes wide and letting her jaw drop a little. “What happened?” She asked.

Sakura did say something about Kakashi somehow or other kissing Obito on the cheek, but she knew better than to listen without a grain of salt. There was no way Obito would still be coherent and sane after that.

To her surprise, Obito blushed, face a healthy shade of red, and that was all she could glimpse before he hid his face into her leather couch.

And mark Rin as a believer, never to doubt Sakura ever again. “Are you kidding me?” She whispered, shocked and obviously in disbelief. “It actually happened?” She muttered to herself, before stopping to think about it.

“Wait. Don’t tell me you _punched_ him in the face or something. Obito!"

“I didn’t! I didn’t even see him!” Obito replied, words sounding like a squeak and face still buried in leather. “But maybe I should have!"

Taking a deep breath and praying for patience, Rin rested her face in her hands. “Obito. I won’t know unless you tell me?"

Dragging himself into and upright position, Obito sighed. “To be honest, I don’t actually know… I don’t actually know if it was him? … But if not him, I…"

Rin just wants to drown her sorrows in alcohol right now, even though she has a patient that is keeping her on call 24/7 and has promised the disciplinary board she won’t 'drink and operate'. She breathes out, and very softly, “… Did you wish it was him?"

“What? No! Of course not! And anyway, it wasn’t exactly him, it was the kids! The kids were playing some game or something, and they said it was spell to cheer me up and the next thing I know I’m being kissed on the cheeks…"

“Spell? And who taught them this spell?”

“I don’t know. Some prince or something. It could have been anyone else other than him!”

“And you were the princess? Gee, I wonder who it could be.”

“Rin. The kids don’t know anything about… the two of us.”

“But that prince or whoever would have known it was you, right? And the only person who would even think of kissing you would be…"

“Ah! Ah! I can’t hear you, I don’t know what’s going on, _AHHHHH!_ ” Obito yelled loudly, looking away from Rin. “That asshole just making fun of me! You know what I should have done back then, all those years ago? I should have just punched him."

Suddenly, ugly realisation dawns on Rin and she realises there could be worser things happening on Monday’s general meeting - not the horrible ten years reunion that was obviously a shit-storm waiting to happen. Worser things such as Obito throwing a punch and Kakashi returning the favour.

And if they end up making out angrily by the end of it, well, Rin really wants to fake her death now.

.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i've actually took almost a year-long break in between writing and editing this (no joke)
> 
> so i'm pretty out of it as well seeing as i've forgotten whatever little storyline there was and basically how to write this entire thing lol. Initially i was going to make kakashi and obito meet at neurosurgery and wrote a bunch of dialogue and things for it but... idk why i decided against it so had to change a bunch of it (i cant rmb the reason lol)
> 
> i know nothing much happened this time round, but well. we r one chapter closer to the shit storm? maybe? hopefully? maybe it wont even be a shitstorm lol.
> 
> ** if somethings dont add up or seems forced its really because i edited it after a long break and things just ended up awkward and not flowing well. please try to pretend it works haha
> 
> please leave a comment if you'd like to talk about kkob's disastrous ldr that spans over time space and emotions

**Author's Note:**

> i know i said that the hospital was big and that there were a lot of staff, but as it is in my fic only a select few will be written about.
> 
> i also never had chicken pox + any other diseases so i apologize for the shitty diagnosis
> 
> children are also difficult to deal with and even harder to write about


End file.
